As many as eight Barcelona players are in the Spanish squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup but there will be no representation of 15-time European champions Real Madrid. Spain manager Luis de la Fuente named a 26-man squad for the tournament and for the first time, a Spanish squad devoid of Real Madrid players will turn up at the World Cup. De la Fuente himself played down the absence, stating that he doesn\u2019t care which club players play for as long as they fit into his plans for the national squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the manager and I don\u2019t look at where the players come from. They\u2019re national team players; I don\u2019t look at one club or another. I don\u2019t have the same local bias that a fan might have. All I want is for these players to feel proud to represent the national team,\u201d De la Fuente told reporters. Defenders Dean Huijsen and Dani Carvajal were among the Real Madrid names to miss out, leaving Barcelona to provide the spine of a team chasing Spain\u2019s second World Cup title after their 2010 triumph in South Africa.<\/p>\n
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Barcelona\u2019s contingent includes Joan Garcia, Pau Cubarsi, Eric Garcia, Gavi, Pedri, Dani Olmo, Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres. Seven of the rest of the players play in teams based in England\u2019s Premier League.<\/p>\n
\u201cExcitement is the key word. Passion,\u201d De la Fuente said. \u201cThe reaction of people all over Spain \u2013 adults and children alike \u2013 is that they are fully behind the national team. It is an honour for me to represent the national team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three members of the squad \u2013 goalkeeper David Raya and midfielders Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino \u2013 play for Arsenal, who are celebrating their first league title truimph in 22 years. Manchester City\u2019s Rodri, meawhile, gives the Spanish squad a commanding presence in midfield. Rodri was an integral part of the Spanish squad that won the 2024 Euros.<\/p>\n
Two of Spain\u2019s star forwards \u2013 Yamal and Nico Williams, are both nursing hamstring issues. De la Fuente said that La Roja are relaxed about their status. \u201cWe\u2019re very relaxed. Barring any setbacks, we\u2019ll have everyone available from the very first match. We\u2019re in close contact with the clubs\u2019 medical teams,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll call on them when we deem it appropriate. I\u2019d like to reiterate that we\u2019ll have everyone in top form and we\u2019ll be able to enjoy watching them in the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Coming into the tournament as the reigning European champions, Spain will be keen to win the World Cup for the second time and the first time since 2010. Their previous victory came during a run of three consecutive major title triumphs at the 2008 Euros, the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Euros, with a team widely rated among the greatest international sides of all time.<\/p>\n
Spain squad:<\/p>\n
Goalkeepers: Unai Simon (Athletic Bilbao), David Raya (Arsenal), Joan Garcia (Barcelona)<\/p>\n
Defenders: Pedro Porro (Tottenham Hotspur), Marcos Llorente (Atletico Madrid), Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona), Marc Pubill (Atletico Madrid), Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao), Eric Garcia (Barcelona), Alex Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen), Marc Cucurella (Chelsea)<\/p>\n
Midfielders: Rodri (Manchester City), Martin Zubimendi (Arsenal), Gavi (Barcelona), Pedri (Barcelona), Fabian Ruiz (Paris St Germain), Mikel Merino (Arsenal), Alex Baena (Atletico Madrid)<\/p>\n
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Forwards: Dani Olmo (Barcelona), Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Ferran Torres (Barcelona), Yeremy Pino (Crystal Palace), Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Victor Munoz (Osasuna), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Borja Iglesias (Celta) (Reporting by Fernando Kallas Editing by Christian Radnedge)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As many as eight Barcelona players are in the Spanish squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[92,3358,14798,938,5417,2178,4796,83,1102,17,14702,14770],"class_list":["post-29443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-barcelona","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-fifa-world-cup-squads","tag-lamine-yamal","tag-nico-williams","tag-pau-cubarsi","tag-pedro","tag-real-madrid","tag-rodri","tag-spain","tag-spain-fifa-world-cup-squad","tag-spain-squad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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